The Cardinals’ season that opened with a starting lineup including Chris Duncan, Adam Kennedy and Rick Ankiel and having appearances by Rico Washington and Jason Isringhausen ended with a lineup of Felipe Lopez, Jason LaRue and Brendan Ryan and appearances by Josh Phelps and Jason Motte. With an 11-4 win over the Reds, one of only two teams in a competitive Central Division that the Cardinals bested this year, the team was able to end on a high note a campaign that alternated between unwarranted expectations and dashed hopes. The Cardinals finished with an actual record — 86-76 — that matched its Pythagorean record and exceeded by three the win total from its championship just two years ago. It was a long season, and yet one that offers a preview of hope for 2009.

Sunday’s patchwork lineup that served as the team’s 2008 coda sweetened their statistics en route to creating 10.3 runs, and spot-on spot starter Brad Thompson provided an apt season-ending performance. His below-average 49 FIGS doesn’t really do him justice: With the Cardinals jumping out to 5-1 and 11-1 leads by the end of the third inning, Thompson pitched to contact in the best sense. He struck out only one but walked only one (and that on an 11-pitch at-bat). He threw 49 of his 69 pitches for strikes (71%), which is all one asks for in that situation. Staying in the zone cost him on the home run to Edwin Encarnacion, but in the end he threw just 3.45 pitches per plate appearance, well below the league average of 3.82. Had it been a closer game, perhaps he would’ve been more careful (though he’s usually very efficient, with a lifetime P/PA of 3.44).

Some highlights (and a couple lowlights) from Game 162:

• The annual tradition of fans singing the national anthem a capella.
• The standing ovation followed by curtain call for Albert Pujols when Josh Phelps pinch ran for him in the third. For a player who some thought would blow out his elbow in Spring Training, Pujols created the second-most runs of his career (160) and tied for the highest RC/G at 11.8.
• No MVP chant from the crowd following the curtain call, which seemed like the perfect moment. We await the final Win Share stats from The Hardball Times at which time we’ll post the final rankings for sabermetric MVP.
• Team Fredbird sending off their "veteran" cheerleaders by featuring them dancing with their moms to "Shook Me All Night Long." It brought out their, shall we say, less seemly dancing styles. The Cardinal organization needs to remember that if people wanted that kind of entertainment, they’d be across the river. Or at an NFL game.
• Loud cheers for Yadier Molina when he stepped into the on-deck circle prior to pinch-hitting for Kelvin Jimenez in the sixth. Cardinal fans were still paying attention, even unto the final innings of the final game.
• Fans possibly warming to Felipe Lopez. When the guy keeps raking — six total bases on the day — how could you not? Despite his flakiness afield, his limited-sample hitting is enough to warrant fan support.
• Although Troy Glaus didn’t make it to 100 RBI (which doesn’t disappoint us but we know disappoints some people), he did reach triple digits in runs created with 100. Kudos. (Scott Rolen finished with 63.)
• Players tossing their caps into the crowd before descending into the clubhouse runway. Classy and melancholy at the same time.
• Fredbird pitching to a team of little leaguers who took the field after the major-league game.

How different were the starting and ending versions of the Cardinals this year? Adjusting for the normal roster-composition changes in September, they were slight but significant:

Of course, Yadier Molina, Skip Schumaker and Adam Kennedy all eventually appeared in Sunday’s contest (and Barton, who appeared started it, while Lohse was scheduled to start). But the travails of the season took two-thirds of the opening-day outfield — Ankiel and Duncan — along with bits, chunks and whole parts of several others: Adam Wainwright, Molina, Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Jason Isringhausen and Anthony Reyes to name a few. Despite the setbacks — or probably, because of them — the team has come a long way and has a better understanding of whom they have — and whom they won’t — in 2009.

The last couple of games had the feeling of an extended tryout, or perhaps a pre-tryout, since, after all, the game yesteday is closer to the beginning of Spring Training 2009 than to the end of Spring Training 2008. If nothing else, the organization is perhaps better aware of what it needs to do for the future than it was at the beginning of 2008. Remember that this was a season of confused identity — would the team rebuild with an eye toward 2009-10 or would they attempt to compete this year? As it turned out, they did both. Had it not been for some key injuries (and we’re not even counting Mulder and Carpenter), the past weekend’s games would’ve been as exciting as the ones in New York and Milwaukee. As it was, the team wasn’t eliminated until Sept. 23, with only five games left, and in the process, learned a lot about many players, putting them that much closer to figuring out how to navigate the offseason. Indeed, next season has already begun as the team announces its presumptive contract with Kyle Lohse this afternoon.

As the team disbands and we watch erstwhile Cardinals from the 2006 championship such as Jeff Suppan, So Taguchi, Jason Marquis and, yes, Jim Edmonds return to the playoffs, we’re left to wonder what the team might’ve been like had they kept those "winners" around. But when all the games are played and the sad sting of missing out on October baseball wears off, remembering the resilient play and odds-beating performance of the 2008 club — the team Tony La Russa "loved" — we’ll take the current bunch.

This entry was posted by Pip on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 11:19 am and is filed under analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.